FIFA Builds Capacity of African Students on Sports Management

The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has commenced a-three-day workshop to develop the capacity of African students at the Pan African University Life and Earth Science Institute  (PAULESI).

The workshop co-hosted by FIFA,  PAULESI and University of Ibadan was  held at the PAULESI permanent site in Ibadan on Tuesday.

The Head of Development Program Africa FIFA member Association Division, Solomon Mudege said the workshop was putting in place the MoU that was signed with African Union, FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF) focusing on education, anti corruption and stadium safety.

“So we decided to get on PAULESI which happens to be the academic arm of the African Union especially the Pan African University, in this campus where they do sports management.

“We decided to work together to do something for the students to build up their capacity and we are honoured to be here because the students are from different parts of the world; such as Egypt, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, and so on and based in this institution.

“So we felt that the impact of what we are  doing  will be speaking to the African continent and playing our part in training future sports administrators in Africa,” he said.

Mudege stated that the purpose of the workshop was to build up the knowledge and allow the students to interact with some of the people who are involved in football development on the African continent.

In her address, the Director PAULESI, Prof. Titilayo Akinlabi said the MoU was signed to encourage sports on the African continent.

“We literally keyed into the implementation of part of what is in the MoU which touches on human capital development of people in the field sports on the African continent.

“And because PAULESI has the MSc Sport programme in Sports management and policy development wherein we take in students on annual basis for the programme so  we are working in collaboration with FIFA to host the workshop.

“This is to bring on board what FIFA stands for and synergies on how we  can bring in more activities on the African continent,” she said.

Also, a Professor of Sports Psychology, UI  and Coordinator Sports Management and Policy Development PAULESI, Olufemi Adegbesan said the impact would be in terms of future collaboration.

This he said will be in terms of development of football academy on this campus, opportunities of internship with FIFA for students of PAULESI as well as scientific collaboration on research among others.

The workshop includes training on Sports  psychology, sociology, sports culture, anti-coruption among others with facilitators from FIFA and CAF.